Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2016 > December > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 17.6 per cent in December 2016

Published: 16 February 2017

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 17.6 per cent in December 2016

Overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 17.6 per cent in December and accommodation establishments recorded good 652,000 of them. The number of nights spent by resident tourists grew by 4.2 per cent and totalled nearly 867,000. A total of good 1.5 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in December 2016, which was 9.6 per cent more than in December 2015. These figures are preliminary data from Statistics Finland’s statistics on accommodation establishments and they have been collected from accommodation establishments with at least 20 beds or caravan pitches with electricity connection.

Change in overnight stays in December 2016/2015, %

Accommodation establishments in Lapland collected one-half of overnight stays by foreign tourists in December 2016.

The number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists at accommodation establishments in Lapland was good 336,000, which was 26.5 per cent higher than in December 2015. Of these, most nights were spent by British visitors, 158,000. Their overnight stays increased by 28.1 per cent year-on-year. Overnight stays by tourists from Asia increased by as much as 53.6 per cent in Lapland and nearly 51,000 nights were recorded for them in December 2016. French visitors’ overnight stays at Finnish accommodation establishments focused almost completely on Lapland. Good 30,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at accommodation establishments in Lapland, while the figure for the whole country was 39,600. The number was 12.5 per cent higher than in the year before.

British visitors were by far the largest group of foreign tourists in December 2016

British visitors emerged as the biggest foreign tourist group in the whole country in December with 185,000 overnight stays. Their overnight stays increased by one-quarter year-on-year. The return of Russians was visible as an 18 per cent growth in overnight stays, which lifted them to second place with good 69,000 nights spent. French tourists came third with nearly 40,000 overnight stays. Their overnight stays grew by 12.5 per cent when compared with December 2015. German visitors took fourth place with 32,700 overnight stays even though their growth amounted to just 1.3 per cent.

The biggest growth among non-resident tourists was recorded for overnight stays by Chinese visitors. They spent good 23,500 nights at accommodation establishments, which was 76.8 per cent up from December 2015 If overnight stays are examined for entire Asia, the growth amounted to 44.7 per cent with China, Hong Kong and Singapore acting as the growth engines. All in all, Finnish accommodation establishments recorded nearly 101,000 overnight stays for visitors from Asia in December 2016.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by visitors from Sweden decreased most. Altogether, close on 22,500 overnight stays were recorded for them at accommodation establishments, which was 14.8 per cent lower than in December 2015. Overnight stays by Swiss visitors remained at 10,000 and the drop from the year before was ten per cent. Overnight stays by both Japanese and Norwegian visitors decreased by five to six per cent from December 2015. Around 17,400 overnight stays were recorded for tourists from Japan at Finnish accommodation establishments, while overnight stays by Norwegian visitors amounted to only 7,500.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased most in December in the regions of South Karelia, up by 35.6 per cent. In Åland and Lapland the growth was good one-fifth. In Varsinais-Suomi, overnight stays went up by 16.1 per cent. The biggest drop in overnight stays was recorded in South Ostrobothnia, 8.0 per cent. Approximately five per cent fewer overnight stays were recorded in both Satakunta and Etelä-Savo than twelve months earlier. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 9.6 per cent from December 2015.

Change in overnight stays in December by region 2016 / 2015, %

Hotel stays increased by 8.4 per cent in December 2016 year-on-year

In December 2016, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.3 million, which was 8.4 per cent higher than twelve months earlier. The number of nights spent by non-resident tourists increased by 16.8 per cent and that of nights spent by resident tourists by 2.5 per cent. Overnight stays by non-resident tourists rose to 580,000 nights and resident tourists stayed 730,000 nights at hotels.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms in the whole country was 48.0 per cent in December. One year earlier, it was 46.8 per cent. Examined by region, the highest hotel room occupancy rates were recorded in Lapland, 69.5 per cent, and Uusimaa, 55.8 per cent. In Rovaniemi the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 90.8 per cent and in Vantaa to 62.5 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 59.7 per cent.

In December, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 101.14 per night for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 96.18.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments grew by 3.2 per cent in 2016

According to preliminary data, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 20.4 million in January to December 2016. This was 3.2 per cent more than in the corresponding period one year earlier. In total, 14.6 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and nearly 5.8 million overnight stays for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 2.6 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 4.6 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

The number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 698,000 in January to December 2016, which was 10.9 per cent down on the respective period of last year. However, they were the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland in 2016. Swedes, Germans and Brits also reached over half a million overnight stays. In all, 500,000 to 549,000 overnight stays were recorded for them. Overnight stays by Swedish visitors remained on the 2015 level. Nights spent by German tourists went down by 0.6 per cent, whereas those spent by British tourists went up by 6.0 per cent, partly due to a strong December.

Among Mediterranean countries, Spanish visitors’ overnightnings increased strongly, by 18.2 per cent. A total of nearly 126,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at accommodation establishments. Overnight stays recorded at accommodation establishments for Italian visitors totalled good 139,000, which was 9.0 per cent more than in the year before. Overnight stays by French visitors rose to 250,000 nights. The figure was 8.7 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of 2015.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most in 2016. Nights spent by Chinese visitors rose to good 231,000, which was 27.2 per cent more than one year earlier. Visitors from the United States and Japan also spent over 200,000 nights at Finnish accommodation establishments. Good 231,000 nights spent were recorded also for visitors from the United States, which was 14.3 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Japanese tourists stayed nearly 215,000 times at accommodation establishments and their stays went up by 5.4 per cent.

Change in overnight stays in January-December 2016/2015, %

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Tuominen 029 551 3556, Kari Keränen 029 551 3208, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-December 2016 (16.2.2017)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2016 (16.2.2017)

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Updated 16.2.2017